mrsock

I don't see the benefit of transfer overcalls here .. aren't you just going to give your opponents an easy ride? LHO could double your transfer bid with general values, or bid your anchor suit as takeout, or he could wait and double on the next round to mean something else. Usually transfer bids are used to cover a wide range of hands, some of which will pass a completed transfer, while others will continue bidding. But in your suggested structure, the major-suited overcalls are so well defined that the overcaller isn't going to want to bid again. The exception may be if his partner has a strong hand or a hand with a lot of trumps, and in either of these cases partner will bid. On this forum there have been loads of discussions over whether weak-NT players should play takeout or penalty doubles in competitive auctions (i think takeout is winning). But those who play takeout doubles will sometimes miss the chance to take a big penalty from a natural overcall of 1NT, depending on how the trumps are split. Under your proposed structure, your opponents shouldn't have any difficulty penalising you whenever you hit a misfit, however the trumps are split? I'd suggest using natural 2♥ and 2♠ overcalls, and giving a 2♦ overcall the current meaning of 2♠, although as someone else suggested it may well work out better to pass with these hands.

1) According to my simulation of 10,000,000 deals, a) South will get a hand fitting your description on approximately 3.9% of deals. :( South will have an A or K in one or both of the doubletons on 64% of the deals that fit your description*. So I think the probability you are interested in is 36%. *(49% of the 5332 hands, 78% of the 5422 hands, and 80% of the 6322 hands) 2) get the dealer.exe program for free. It's quite simple to use. See http://www.dombo.org/henk/dealer.html

sorry, i apologise - i didn't realise feelings were so strong. i thought it might be a FAQ, but i couldn't find any other recent posts about it. i don't have anything against Polish club - in fact i rather like playing against it. I certainly didn't say Polish players are evil (did i?). I only meant to inquire if there were any rules about which conventions are allowed. I disagree that the Wilkosz 2D is an integral part of Polish club. I'm playing at an international tournament in Poland, next weekend, and i expect to see a lot of people playing Polish club, i'm not sure if the Wilkosz 2D will be allowed there though - i'm sure i'll find out... My partner on this BBO session was a beginner, and she was minced by a standard weak 2H on the following board (passing with Kxx - x - Axx - AKQJxx). A Wilkosz 2D is far more difficult for any player to cope with. So difficult, in fact, that the WBF have chosen to ban it from world championships and other major events (or am i wrong about that?). The reason for the ban (presumably to help other countries beat the Polish more easily) isn't really relevant. i guess my question was really if BBO falls under any particular national bridge organisation, or if "anything goes" as far as permitted systems. If so, i'd really like to play a forcing pass Moscito-type system... btw i'm not a redneck american, i'm in the UK. I don't like to see lots of unnecessary rules and regulations about what can and can't be played. But i do like to know what the rules are, because i'm petty like that.

sorry if this is a FAQ i've had a look through the BBO help pages, but i can find no mention of which systems are permitted. It might be worth putting this in, even if to say "all systems are allowed". I only ask because i came up against two polish guys, playing Polish club, including the Wilkosz 2D. Now, i'm fairly sure this opening is banned by the WBF, in nearly every major event, and i'm sure it's banned by the ACBL too. so this makes me think that it is probably banned on BBO. I politely asked the Polish opps if they thought it was legal to play Wilkosz 2D, and they said that it was just part of a standard Polish club system, and therefore must be legal! I didn't bother arguing, especially since they had just got a bottom from using it!